"I had no choice." Eponine shrugs. "My master - he says I must do it, and he takes my necklace. It is his punishment, you see? A year here, or I die on the way. I don't think he cares no more. I have screwed with him too much, you see?" She spits on the floor.

"But perhaps you will know him, and say to him now? You won't tell on me, will you? Monsieur, I know you shan't peach on me." She shrugs again.
"If you are from Paris, if it were your home, you shall have heard of my clan? The Patron Minette?"